Battle Log

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It was a lively outreach in Brisbane city during New Year's Eve. Large crowds gathered to listen to the preaching, and there were quite a number of hecklers.

Ultimately the gospel was preached and so we rejoice!

Watch the following video from the night:

To God be the glory!

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Christmas Evangelism Extravaganza

22-24 December - Queen Street Mall, Brisbane

Day 1

It was an eventful day in Brisbane. Before we had even commenced the outreach, as we were setting up, an irate Atheist approached the literature table. He proceeded to pick up all the Bibles and materials then try to throw them in the bin.

We were able to stop him doing this, but he continued to increase in hostility. Eventually, we had to physically restrain him in order to stop him destroying Bibles. 

A large crowd gathered to see what was happening, and it was encouraging to have businesses, and members of the public supporting us.

The Police were called and they issued the angry Atheist a move on order. 

After that we were able to hand out over 1600 tracts, and numerous Bibles and books were taken by members of the public. We also were able to present the Gospel via the sketchboards in the open-air. 

Sadly, as the day was coming to a close, a Brisbane City Council local law officer approached us. Previously, he stated that he wanted us banned from the Queen Street Mall as he personally objected to the message we preached (even though we have permits and are legally allowed to preach).

Today, he tried to ban us handing out tracts and then tried to stop the preaching. These efforts of his failed. 

Please pray for all those who received the Gospel today, and also please pray that the Lord would thwart those who would seek to silence His Gospel.

 

Day 2

It was a 'lively' day in Brisbane for the second day of our Christmas Campaign. The violent Atheist returned again, this time he destroyed more material and made Christophobic comments, he then fled. Unfortunately, the Police were not able to catch him, however, they have assured us that they will be increasing patrols in our area for tomorrow. 

Once again we faced opposition from a Brisbane City Council local law officer. This officer has been engaging in religious vilification for many weeks now. Even though he has admitted (on audio) that we are not breaking the law, and that we have the legal right to preach in the Queen Street Mall, he keeps trying everything possible to shut us down.

Today, because some people objected to the Christmas message he threatened to fine us if we continued to share. He also called the Police who promptly told him that this is a civil matter and not a Police issue. We pointed out the law to the Council Officer, but he refused to submit to it, instead he declared himself to be the authority. As a result, we are now looking into what legal action we can take against him, as tyranny must be stopped. 

We ignored the unjust and unlawful order from Council and continued to share the Gospel. In the end he walked away without fining us. 

However, it must be said that with the increase of opposition more people are opening to the Gospel. Numerous tracts, and Bibles were given away today, and many great conversations were had. We even had a crowd gather for the open-air preaching. 

Brethren, pray for us. Please pray that Christ will stop the plans of wicked men in trying to silence the Gospel, and that many will be saved.

Day 3

We had an excellent day of outreach in Brisbane. Today, we had no opposition from the militant Atheist, nor from the Brisbane City Council Local Law Officer. Instead, we had a member of the Queensland Police affirm that we have the law on our side when it comes to the outreach.

We had a good problem today, in that we ran out of Gospel material. All the Bibles, books, tracts etc. that we had were snapped up by those in the Queen Street Mall. Over the past two weeks of Christmas outreach we have been able to distribute over 25,000 tracts, and over one hundred Bibles.

Please pray for all those who heard the Gospel via the preaching, and personal witness; also pray for those who received tracts. May Christ be exalted in the saving of souls.

 

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The city was absolutely packed tonight in Brisbane as we arrived. Thousands of people had gathered to watch the Christmas light presentation on City Hall. 

The Christmas gospel tract that we have was flying out of our hands. I really do praise God for this time of year.

Later on in the night we had several team members open air preach. When Ryan was preaching he was interacting with a man named Dom. He thought he was a good person.

After going through the law of God (to bring the knowledge of sin), he understood he deserved Hell, and so Ryan had the privilege of declaring the gospel to him.

The man then asked, "But is Jesus the only way to Heaven?" Ryan responded with a clear yes, for Jesus is the only person who has lived perfectly and therefore is the only possible substitute for us.

After stepping down from the box, Ryan was able to continue the conversation with him and give him a gospel of John to start reading. Please pray that God would save Dom.

We had a few new team members tonight, which we praise God for. A very successful night indeed, in total we handed out over 4,000 gospel tracts.

Glory to God!

 

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A great night of outreach at the Gold Coast tonight. We handed out over 2,500 gospel tracts and quite a large number of people stopped to listen to the preaching.

One good conversation I had tonight was with a Muslim young man who was interested in finding out about what we believed. He came back later on with his cousin to talk further.

They were clearly presented with the gospel but I could tell pride was preventing them from leaving Islam and trusting in Christ. I explained that only through the cross can God show mercy while not compromising his justice.

These two men have now heard the truth. Please pray for their salvation.

 

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It was a great afternoon of evangelism in Sunnybank today. Quite a number of tracts in Chinese and English were able to be handed out.

Please pray for a Mormon elder who we have been talking with occasionally at Sunnybank. We first met him at the Gold Coast in February. 

Today he said he has some big doubts about Mormonism, but said that his pride is stopping him from leaving the Mormon church. And also because he loves the LDS idea of eternal marriage so much that he wants to cling to the hope that that is true despite Jesus saying there is no marriage in Heaven.

You can tell he is thinking through the things we have been saying to him. Please pray for his salvation

 

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It was a great night of evangelism in Brisbane. The team was able to hand out over 3000 gospel tracts, and also have many great conversations. The Gospel was also preached in the open-air. 

The saddest part of the night was speaking to a man named Will. Will is a seminary student studying to become an Anglican Priest.

Sadly, Will doesn't know the Gospel. When Josh asked him how someone can have their sins forgiven, he replied by saying he doesn't know, and he was still working out how he could be forgiven.

Josh shared the Gospel with him and stressed his need to have faith in Christ. He took a tract and was encouraged to study his Bible. Please pray for Will.

 

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The rain was heavy and constant today during our Sunnybank outreach. But it meant people would congregate under the rain shelters, which provided a great opportunity to talk to many people.

Mostly the people we spoke to today were from overseas, from countries such as China, Vietnam, and Korea. They had never heard anything about Christianity before, and after hearing the gospel, they wanted to know more, so we gave each of them a Bible.

Eight Bibles and many gospel tracts were given out today.

To God be the glory!

 

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Ryan Hemelaar and Josh Williamson spent the afternoon in Brisbane sharing the Gospel. Today, we were able to have some great conversations and many tracts were distributed. Sadly, two Local Law officers from the Brisbane City Council tried to stop the outreach. Even though they admitted we weren't breaking the law, and that we had permits, they personally opposed our message and think that we shouldn't be allowed to preach. 

Please pray for those who heard the Good News today, and also pray for those two Local Law Officers. Pray that their attempts to silence the Gospel will fail.

  

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There were lots of young people about on Friday night at the Gold Coast. Many had gone to Catholic schools, thought being a 'good person' would save them. It was good being able to use the law to bring the knowledge of sin and then share the gospel with them.

One chat I had was with a man in his 50s who called himself a Christian, but had completely rejected all churches. He thought he doesn't need to be under any elders. I warned him that not being part of a local church can often make you go loopy theologically.

And this man was no exception. He hadn't been to church for 23 years, and he had all sorts of bad theology. He believed that Jesus was the Christ, but is no longer. He said that on judgement day we'll be standing before Satan and not God. He said that Jesus is the Father and is the Holy Spirit as well. 

I showed him verses in the Bible which counter his ideas, but he was very hard hearted. He didn't know the Bible very well, so I pleaded with him to start reading it and to come know who God really is, for his salvation depends on it. Please pray for David and his wife Carol.

We sow the seed, God gives the growth! To God alone be the glory!

 

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On Friday, 28th November, the team was out once more in Leicester Square to preach Christ crucified. We were seven strong: Glen, Waithera, Esther, Andrew, Kwadwo, Steven, and Rob.

After meeting in Caffé Nero for a time of prayer and Bible study, we headed over to the Square. It was very loud due to a carnival atmosphere, but I was still able to preach for a short while during one of the quiet periods! 

Due to the ambient noise the open-air did not bring in a big crowd like the week before, however, afterwards we all managed to get into some great conversations! Here are a few highlights from the team...

Waithera: On Friday, Esther and I talked to a homeless guy from Angola called Jose. He had a lot to say against the church, against prosperity teaching, etc, and said early on he wasn't a Christian. Later on he said he wasn't clear on why Christ died and questioned whey the Bible is our final authority. Esther and I are hoping to see him again. We then spoke to a Polish man and his friend. The Polish guy's name is Radek. He was very honest about his sin and about his state before a holy God. I went through the gospel with him and Lord willing he will be meeting up with Esther this Thursday as he goes to the Uni near where Esther works. She should be giving him a Bible and he did say he may come to church sometime so please pray for him. (Waither and Esther are to the left)

Kwadwo: Firstly, I had a conversation with two Muslims, one called Jordan and another I believe called Francesca. Jordan was the most vocal, acknowledged he was a sinner but essentially thought he can always chance it with Allah. In sum he denied the gospel because in his words he couldn't understand it, nor the Trinity. Next I had a conversation with a group of about three to five 17 year olds. They largely heard the gospel, but only one who maybe had a bit of a Christian background seemed very genuine in her questions, and she would have asked more if her friends weren't in a rush to go. Finally, I spoke witha a girl called Irene. She had a very interesting stance on things. She listend as the gospel was explained but wouldn't accept due to not wanting to be a hypocrite... She largely gave up knowledge and seemed content with that. I think an 'experience' of Christianity and of past believers hampered her view on the faith. Please pray for her, because she has heard the gospel and she does know that she needs to repent. (Kwadwo is in picture to the right)

Steven: I spoke to a guy called Daniel who denied the God of the Bible as something made up by "the system." When I pushed him to account for his knowledge of this it basically boiled down to him knowing it because some higher power revealed it, but he couldn't account for the truth of this "revelation" either. He knew because he knew. Also, I had a conversation with a guy called Kan, not sure if he was all there but he was very open to know more about the Gospel so we exchanged e-mails.

I had an encouraging conversation with a young couple earlier in the evening who listened well as I explained the gospel to them. We spoke for some time and it did amaze me how prepared they were to stand and listen to what I had to say. God is so good. Towards the end I asked if they had ever heard anything like it before, and they said no. But then they said that it made a lot of sense, and that there was nothing they could come up with that could rebutt what they had heard. They left saying that they had a lot to think about. Do pray for them!! (the Lord knows their names).

Soli Deo Gloria!

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